"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

Just when Petrolia is about to start doing exploratory drilling again, citizens are wondering, after seeing many times a truck taking water at a water hydrant near the GDS plant to then go up to the Haldimand 4 well.

Citizens' frustration comes from the fact that water is costly to filter and distribute, and so it is them that are paying for the water going to Petrolia. It's even more frustrating for citizens who have in their possession experts' opinions that say that this drilling is endangering their own drinking water sources.

Since the arrival of this company, where it will find the water it needs has always been an unanswered question; an evaluation of the quantity of water available in the aquifer below feeding private wells has also been left unanswered.

The citizens' committee Ensemble pour l'avenir durable du Grand Gaspé called the municipality and was told that an investigation is under way. Unbelievable! Just when this municipal administration does not have enough funds to ship water from these new wells on the southern side of the St. Jean River towards the present aqueduct system, no one has asked where Petrolia is taking its water. At the Environment Ministry, they tell us that if the water taken by the company is from a hydrant, that would not be in their jurisdiction.

Drinking water is more precious than oil and belongs to the people that protect it.

I'm the second generation of my family that lives in Richelieu, Quebec, in Canada. My family tree, both from my mother's and my father's side, has its roots in Quebec since the beginning of the 1600s: my ancestors crossed the ocean from France, leaving Perche and Normandy behind them. Both French AND English are my mother tongues: I learned to talk in both languages when I was a baby, and both my parents were perfectly bilingual too.